Peru 'meteorite' strike leaves 200 sick

Agençe France-Presse

Wednesday, 19 September 2007

The extreme heat that results from a meteorite strike may cause elements to fuse and releases noxious clouds of gas. Pictured here, Meteor Crater in Arizona, which is over 1 kilometre across and 150 metres deep (Image: NASA, JSC)

About 200 villagers have fallen ill from mysterious gases that spewed from a crater in southeastern Peru believed to have been caused by a meteorite crash, officials and scientists say.

But they say no radiation has been detected.

Scores of residents of the farming village of Carancas began vomiting and complaining of headaches and dizziness after an apparent meteorite struck the area at the weekend, leaving a crater 8 metres deep and 20 metres wide.

Ramirez says the illnesses may have been triggered by sulfur, arsenic or other toxins that may have melted in the extreme heat produced by the apparent meteorite strike.

"It is a conventional meteorite that, when it struck, produced gases by fusing with elements of the terrain," he says.

He also ruled out that the object was a satellite.

But not all experts are convinced that the 'crater' was really formed by a meteorite, instead suggesting that natural geological processes could have led to the release of noxious gases into the atmosphere.

Nestor Quispe, mayor of the nearby town of Desaguadero, says about 200 sick villagers are being treated and that Carancas residents fear long-term side effects.

The director of the health ministry in the Puno region, Jorge Lopez, says none of the patients was in serious condition but that they would have to undergo blood and neurological tests as a precaution in three to six months.